Fines for Breaking Lifejacket Bylaw

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Harbourmaster has
issued the first infringement fines for people breaking the
bylaws requiring lifejackets to be worn.

Eight fines of
$300 each have been issued to boaties who were seen off the
coast of Napier not wearing lifejackets on board their
boats.

The Navigation Safety Bylaws were reviewed in 2012
and require lifejackets to be worn by everyone on board a
vessel 6 metres or less in length.

After a two year
education programme about the lifejacket bylaws, the HBRC
Harbourmaster is now taking legal action against anyone seen
breaking the rules.

“Boaties have had plenty of
information on the bylaws and enough time to buy suitable
lifejackets for them and their passengers. Some people need
to move past bravado and the ‘it’s never happened to
me’ attitude and take responsibility for their family,
their friends and themselves,” says Harbourmaster Phil
Norman.

“When you get into trouble on a boat, it happens
very quickly and in a very dangerous place - a lifejacket
gives you a better chance of saving your life.”

The
bylaws state that a boat must carry sufficient personal
flotation devices for each person on board and that this is
the responsibility of the person in charge of the craft. The
bylaw also requires that a personal flotation device must be
worn at all times on all craft of 6 metres or less and on
all paddlecraft, when the craft is underway or preparing to
become underway, which means the responsibility is with each
person on board.

“In other words, if you are in charge
of a boat, you must make sure you have enough lifejackets on
board to fit everyone including children, and, as an
individual on board, it is your personal responsibility to
wear a lifejacket,” says the
Harbourmaster.

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